First Day of My Life
by Lillebule
Summary: Hey all, I wrote this back in February when I was planning to teach my first French class.  I finally decided to post it.  This story follows Claude through some of his firsts.  Better summary within.
1. Chapter 1

Hey all, I wrote this back in February when I was planning to teach my first French class. I finally decided to post it. This story follows Claude through some of his firsts.

Chapter 1: Trials/tribulations at school…mostly involving his thoughts on peers.

Chapter 2: Claude finding his brother.

Chapter 3: What would a good Claude fic be without Esmeralda? You guessed it, the first time Claude sees Esme.

Although I have it complete, I will be re-reading it and posting each chapter one at a time.

This is rated "t" for teen. Nothing too violent or sexual.

I don't own any of the characters, Victor Hugo does. The title isn't mine either…it's the title of a Garou song.

Reviews/constructive criticism are appreciated, flames not so much.

Chapter 1: Claude is walking from Notre-Dame to La Sorbonne. On his way he encounters children playing in the melting snow, a band of young annoying boys playing keep a way with a little girl and her doll and another band of slightly older boys trying to catch the attention of a group of young women. And of course a young woman who tries to get his attention. And all he wants is to study.

* * *

It was the beginning of spring, the snow and ice had slowly turned to a cold and wet slush. Small children would build the slush into piles and stomp on them, watching the disgusting mire fly. Often times the slush would land on some unsuspecting passerby's hose or pants. The children would laugh as the disgruntled party kept walking.

A young man no more than fourteen years of age had just exited the cathedral. The young man was dressed in black, his eyes lowered and his arms full of books. He could hear the laughter of young children, the gossip of young girls and the chatter of young men who had interest in the crowd of young girls. He paid no attention to any of this worthless noise, until one particular scamp had smashed a pile of slush, sending the slop in Claude's direction. For a brief moment Claude looked down at the wet spots on his doublet and scowled, releasing a low growl from his lips. Confronting the imp who had sullied his best doublet would take too long and do no good. He had somewhere to be and he was already running late, besides the child like all others would stand, cower and nod…then go right back to smashing piles of slush. Instead Claude shook his head, brushed off the hem of his doublet and continued on. Claude could not think of a time when he played in the snow. And what a disrespectful game to be playing! Was it so funny to soil another person's garments? This was how the days went by, except on Sundays. Sundays were different! Sunday was the only day of the week Claude would not study; Sundays were for prayer and not science. Sundays were quiet, with well behaved children who didn't play ridiculous games…He sighed, knowing that his mind was at the losing end of a neverending tangent.

"Give it back!"

He had made it across the bridge to the left bank of the Seine without being stopped by another child with a slush pile. He was almost ready to breathe a sigh of relief when he heard a girl whining to her older brother and one of his friends. The small girl ran back forth between the boys, while they tossed a doll back and forth to one another in an attempt to keep it away from her.

"You're going to have to jump higher than that!"

One boy laughed and taunted as he threw it back to his companion.

Claude rolled his eyes and scowled. Why couldn't children be peaceful? Why couldn't they sit quietly and read?

"Stop, or I'm telling mother!"

Claude gritted his teeth. Against better judgment he marched over to one boy and caught the doll. The two boys and the girl stood, mouth agape and stunned. Claude tossed the doll to the little girl, who instead of thanking him, was more interested in sticking her tongue out at the two boys and laughing.

This was his favorite time of day; the part of the day which came before classes and when the steps to this grand building were empty. He chose a spot close to the door to being studying. He was the first to arrive today, which meant he'd be the first to enter and the first to class! He smiled smugly at the realization, but his moment of triumph was short lived.

"Isn't that Emilee?"

A voice nearby shouted and Claude looked in the direction of whence it came. A young blonde boy no older than he was pointing out a girl to one of his friends.

"No, Emilee has blue eyes and that wench has brown eyes."

"And that makes a difference? They are both girls aren't they?"

"It does if Emilee is your sister!"

The second boy shot back and gave his companion a light shove. Of course the shove soon became a mess of fists and loud curses.

"Excuse me."

Claude rolled his eyes as he watched a young woman walk over to the boys. The girl only had to flash a bright smile and flutter her lashes for the boys to stop.

"Honestly…is that all women are?"

Claude mumbled and went back to reading his book.

"Would either of you be willing to settle something between my cousin and I?"

The two boys brushed themselves off and politely nodded.

"Wonderful! My cousin has told me that some man has been sentenced to the pillory this afternoon and I have told her she is wrong and that the man was sentenced to hang at the Place De greve. Perhaps you could settle this argument between us by telling us who is correct?"

The girl's voice was annoyingly high and sweet.

"The man is sentenced to hang."

The blonde boy spoke up, certain in his answer.

"No. The man she is speaking of has not yet been sentenced at all."

The second young man would not be outdone in front of a young and pretty girl and with that the two imbeciles began to shove each other again, while the girl wandered off.

Claude looked up briefly to see how the display had played out, but had lost sight of the girl.

"How ridiculous, fighting over some silly girl! That is all women are, one useless distraction after another. They think they can have anything with only a flash of skin and a smile."

As he was mumbling to himself he noticed a shadow blocking the light.

"Excuse me."

He recognized the voice, but refused to acknowledge it.

The owner of the voice cleared her throat.

"Excuse me."

"Can't you see that I am busy. Go bother someone else with your insipid flirtation!"

The girl was taken aback to Claude's icy reception.

"Excuse me!"

"If you and your cousin must know, the man you are inquiring about is to be hanged."

Claude peered up to see the two boys still arguing. In his mind, their time would be better spent in a classroom. Didn't these young men have anything better to do with their time? If they weren't making a mess or playing thoughtless games they were gawking at some girl! Some girl who would surely damn their souls. And for a moment he looked down at the two boys and then to the girl who was haughtily walking away. And then he looked back down at his books and his quill snapped and broke. He gave an odd smile and chuckled. With all the day's distractions and now this! He sighed and began walking to his dorm for another quill and knew that somewhere between here and there, there would be a child who would stomp in the slush, a boy teasing his sister and some illiterate young female who would shamelessly flirt with him. That was how it always was.


	2. Chapter 2

Hey all, I wrote this back in February when I was planning to teach my first French class. I finally decided to post it. This story follows Claude through some of his firsts.

Chapter 1: Trials/tribulations at school…mostly involving his thoughts on peers.

Chapter 2: Claude finding his brother.

Chapter 3: What would a good Claude fic be without Esmeralda? You guessed it, the first time Claude sees Esme.

Although I have it complete, I will be re-reading it and posting each chapter one at a time.

This is rated "t" for teen. Nothing too violent or sexual.

I don't own any of the characters, Victor Hugo does. The title isn't mine either…it's the title of a Garou song.

Reviews/constructive criticism are appreciated, flames not so much.

Chapter 2: Claude meets Jehan for the first time and starts learning about all the fun stuff that comes along with a baby.

* * *

For the most part it had been a taxing day. A messenger had given him word that his parents were very ill, so he had rushed home but did not find them ill. His parents were in bed and appeared to be sleeping and yet they seemed too peaceful. Claude groggily approached the bed and took his mother's wrist in his hand. It was limp and cold! There was no pulse and he noticed that her chest was not rising and falling the way it would if she were sleeping. He gulped down the fear that had somehow concentrated itself in the back of his throat and trudged over to his father's side of the bed. He check for a pulse, but again there was none.

Claude shook his head in disbelief. They couldn't be dead, but logically…they were mortal and older, so it stood to reason that at some point they would die. He could feel his face scrunching up and slid out of the room, placing a hand over his mouth. He was alone there was no need to hide his emotions, it was only something he was used to doing. He felt an odd feeling in his stomach. It couldn't possibly be…? No it most certainly couldn't be…guilt. He hadn't known his parents that well, or for that long. His first memory of his mother was of her bandaging up a wound he had gotten when he had fallen down, attempting to run and his last memory of her was a kiss on his cheek and the words "Be a good boy and don't cause too much trouble." as he went off to school. His first memory of his father was the smell of books and his last was of him saying "Make me proud of you." Claude had wanted to please his parents…he tried so hard to make them proud and to honor the Frollo name. So, why at this moment did he feel as though he had let them down in some way? He leaned against the door frame with a hand upon his forehead.

"Grant me the serenity…"

"Gahhhhhhhhhhh!"

A loud scream interrupted him as he had just begun praying.

"Will someone shut that thing up!"

He hadn't meant for the words to be said, but in his emotional state he had lost control of his mouth. Claude was not fond of children; babies screamed too much, small children annoyed him, young people were vain and his peers enjoyed the games of stabbing each other in the back and sin. Then it occurred to him, the sound had come from inside the house. And the thing making those sounds was crying. Claude cautiously went into the room from where the noise was coming from.

In a cradle lay a small baby boy, who couldn't have been more than a year old.

"You are the one who won't let me think!"

Claude grabbed the baby and held it up so that he could be face to face with the child.

"Were they too your parents?"

The baby seemed to calm down once Claude began to hold him and speak to him.

"They never told me I had a brother."

Claude had knew nothing about babies and began to panic.

"I can't take you back to university with me! I can't raise you! Even if I wanted to, I don't know how."

He felt sorry for his brother, and at the same time felt obligated to care for him.

"I don't know what to do."

Claude sighed and began to rock his brother in his arms. The baby seemed to smile and Claude smiled back.

"But you and I are all each other has left and you need me. I just need to find someone who knows about children. Why couldn't they have left me with something I knew something about?"

Claude heard a gurgling sound and then a slight gagging noise. His brother was getting sick on him.

"Stop that!"

Claude immediately jumped up and held the child away from himself. The younger brother giggled at his older brother's reaction.

"I don't understand why you see that as funny. I just had this doublet washed! And that was the last of my allowance until next month…Oh. Right, I am the patriarch now."

Claude sighed. This was too much to take in!

"The first thing I suppose we should do is make sure that you are healthy, then we will find someone who knows something about babies. I can't keep you at the university, at least not until you are old enough to read and study…can babies read?"

Claude shook his head, too exhausted to think clearly.

At these words his baby brother looked as though he was about to cry again.

"Why are you making that face?"

"GAHHHHHHH!"

Claude cringed and almost dropped his brother from the shock of the loud screech.

The child had begun again to cry and this time wouldn't stop.

"Are you hurt? Did I say something? No, you can't understand a word I'm saying…"

Claude felt to make sure he had not injured his brother and in doing so, felt an odd wetness.

"You couldn't have waited until we found someone to help us? Well I don't know how to change you! Looks like we're going to have to find help a little sooner than I had anticipated."

With that Claude walked out of the room with his brother in hand and out of the house. This was his only kin and he would be the same to this child and that stirred something new in him. It was compassion, not something learned in books or in a classroom. He knew nothing about babies and yet he wanted to give this one the world! He felt an odd need to learn everything he could, so that when his brother was old enough he could pass his knowledge down to him. Claude smiled at the child periodically, which soothed his brother and made himself calmer.

"This will be quite the education for the both of us."

Claude whispered as they headed toward L'Isle De La Cite.


	3. Chapter 3

Hey guys, sorry this one took a while to put up. I've been kind of busy lately…so please forgive me.

This is the last chapter in this story of Claude's firsts. It is the first time Claude sees Esme.

Just to recap…

A first day of school for Claude.

The first time Claude meets Jehan.

I don't own any charcters, Victor Hugo does.

As always reviews are welcome, flames not so much.

* * *

It was an early sunny afternoon and Claude sat as his desk, muttering something and scribbling something furiously.

"That scamp! Does he think that beneath the cathedral there is an endless well of gold?"

Claude huffed after a brief meeting with his younger brother.

"And how could something go so wrong? I gave him the best of everything and he wastes it! What kind of man is that? It is no man at all…"

Claude's musings were cut short by a sound from beneath his window. He paused from writing and the sound stopped.

"Where was I?"

He peered back over to his book and nodded, curtly. But no sooner had he gone back to reading did the sound start up again. It was a distractive clanking of a tambourine.

"And now this!"

Claude flung open the window to yell down at the heathens beneath him, to frighten them away.

"You!-"

The moment the word was released his eyes fell to the spectacle in the middle of a large circle. There, in the street was some little princess. But what was a princess doing with a tambourine in hand and wearing the garb of an egyptian?

The tiny girl swirled around, smacking the noisy instrument on her small him. Her dark, curly hair flew around her face by the grace of the wind. Her body twisted in time with a flute and the rhythm of her own tambourine, her legs had become spokes from a wheel. And then, just then did she stop? Did she hear the voice from above? She paused and turned her small head upwards to see whence the sound came, but did not see anyone.

Claude had ducked down, as not to be seen by such a creature; were she a princess, she certainly rivaled the angels and were she some little bohemian, she surely rivaled all mere mortal women!

He dared a second look and barely peered out from the window. She was standing, collecting coins in an old hat. Men and women, young and ancient gladly poured coins and other trinkets into the hat, smiling gayly as she thanked them. Claude attempted to regain his strength and yell down for the crowd to dispurse and for the girl to decease seducing money from the good Parisians.

"You there girl!-"

The words flew out of his mouth before he had given any thought to what he was about to say. And then two soft, dark brown eyes met his! He melted to the floor, though stood straight as a spire all at the same time! Her eyes were so large and shaded with long dark lashes and there was no mistake that she had looked directly into his eyes! She had unknowingly wandered into his soul with that brief and subtle glance.

"God you have sent the loveliest angel for my soul! Oh if it is my time, thank you for such a-"

"Djali…"

The word disturbed him from his prayer and he looked down at her once more.

"Djali, how does the president of the king's ecclesiastical court preach?"

It was a filthy animal by her side. Its horns and hooves were of brilliant flames; a demonic beast. A sweet angelic mistress with a devil's beast. No, this girl was not here to gather the souls of the good people and bring them to the light! This little Egyptian was surely the most cunning wasp in Satan's army! Claude gritted his teeth, this time determined to yell down at her to stop dancing and for the corwd to disperse, but then she looked up a second time and he saw those sweet doleful orbs, shaded by fluttering lashes again. It was as though her soul was approaching him, begging him to come to her and watch her, hold her, place his lips against hers! To damn his soul by making fantasy into reality.

But the way she mocked him, the way she flaunted her figure, the way she sang! Oh! She must want something from him. He crossed himself and began to pray anew, but this time he knew not what for.


End file.
